Naturally
by Ebony Rayne
Summary: When Alex finds out that genie magic, while powerful, is not strong enough to break a bond between parent and child, everything is thrown off balance. Full summary inside. One-shot.


**Summary:** When Alex finds out that genie magic, while powerful, is not strong enough to break a bond between parent and child, everything is thrown off balance. Listen to Alex's story as she explains on live TV what happened in the family. Read on as Justin discovers his true roots and he and Alex grow closer.

**Warnings:** I write it that **Justin is adopted**, but I'm putting an **incest** **warning anyway**. I don't want to get bitched out by some offended reader. Also, **Stevie is in this story** and she's **not evil**. I like her character and what's so bad about wanting to stop a competition that pits family against each other, anyway? We're just going to ignore that Wizard Revolution episode. And, for simplicity's sake, let's pretend the world has found out about wizards at this point. Also, **Harper is** going to be **very angry** in this story. She **won't be **_**bashed**_, per say, but she will be righteously pissed off. Last, the show refers to all male _and_ female magic users as "wizards", so that's what I'm doing; I will not be using "witch."

**Pairings:** Alex/Justin is the main one, but there's also some Harper/Zeke and Stevie/Mason.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place. It's all Disney.

"Talk show"

O

"I was bored and flipping through an old textbook for a good prank spell when I saw a section on genies. I'd had a run in with one and had to outsmart her, which was annoying, but I had nothing better to do and decided to read it. I found out that, no matter how powerful a genie is, one can't break the bond between a parent and their kid."

"_And why was this shocking?"_

"_My very first wish was that people would stop comparing me to my brother, Justin. The genie made everyone but me forget him, even my mom and dad. Justin wasn't my brother."_

:—:—:

"What do you mean I'm not your son!" Justin shouted at Jerry and Theresa Russo.

"Don't you _ever_ say that," Theresa protested firmly. "You _are_ our son, do you understand me?"

"Not biologically!" Justin pointed out, his voice slightly hysterical. The screaming match continued on for over 20 minutes before Jerry decided to start explaining.

"Growing up in the Wizarding Realm, I had a best friend named James Palmer. We went to school together, got our flying licenses together, and both became our family's wizard," Jerry began. "When I gave up my powers to marry Theresa, we kept in contact. He was my best man and I was his when he married a woman named Cecelia. They had a child, a boy, a few years later named Justin. Theresa and I were named godparents." Alex, Justin, Max, and Harper listened with rapt attention as Jerry continued his story.

"Just weeks later, they were killed in a dragon fire," Jerry told them, his head bowed and his voice sad. "In their Will, they asked that we raise Justin alongside any kids we had so he would study hard for the Wizard Competition. They wanted him to be the best wizard he could be, even though he would receive James and Cecelia's full powers when we revealed that he was theirs; they asked that it be right before the Competition, but it looks like that isn't going to work."

The children just stared.

:—:—:

"Justin and I had always been more like the odd friend than siblings. He would help me, I would help him, and then we'd go back to competing for our powers. Once we found out that was all for nothing, we started talking more. We would spend some time together discussing things we never had before. We were just friends and we no longer felt guilty that there was no family-like love between us. We felt like we could tell each other anything. I thought I'd ruined it when I really took that feeling to heart."

:—:—:

Alex and Justin had stayed up until well past midnight discussing school and movies and anything else they could think of until they got too tired. They yawned and were standing by their bedroom doors when Justin called out; "Good night, Alex. Sweet dreams."

Alex was half asleep and yawning when she replied; "Good night, Justin. I love you."

Her eyes went wide as she realized what she'd said and she tried to rush into her room but Justin had spelled it shut before she could. She watched, wide-eyed and waiting anxiously, as Justin walked toward her.

"What did you say?" he asked, almost certain he'd imagined it.

"I'm sorry," Alex whispered, hoping the shock of her apologizing might give her enough time to escape. It didn't work.

"Alex," Justin said sternly, his eyes boring into hers.

"I…," Alex trailed off. Justin waited patiently. "I love you," she repeated, her voice breathless. She became quieter and Justin had to strain his ears to catch the next part. "And I don't mean like a sister."

Justin stared at her for what Alex felt was forever and she thought for sure he was going to storm off in disgust. Then he opened his mouth and said, "I love you, too." And when he kissed her, all felt right in the world.

:—:—:

"Telling my parents was hard, but they learned to accept it. I think they wanted us to influence each other; I would get him to loosen up some and he would get me to spend more time studying and less in detention. What was really hard was telling my best friend, Harper. She'd had a crush on Justin for years. So I came up with a plan."

:—:—:

"So," Alex said to her… boyfriend. "Here's what we're gonna do. First, we have to set Harper up with someone else— for some reason she likes Zeke. Second, we start a rumor that you've got a girlfriend to see how she reacts. This'll happen a week or so later, early enough that she's on a new relationship high but far along enough that it's pretty certain they'll last awhile. Third, I start dropping comments that I think you're cute, smart, funny, whatever and we do some light flirting in front of her. Last, I'll pull her into my room and we'll tell her together."

"Good plan," Justin complimented, "but won't that take awhile?"

Alex nodded and said, "Yes. Why?"

"Well, since we can't explain to the kids at school that a genie was able to erase me from mo—… Mr. and Mrs. Russo's memories, we were able to find out I'm adopted and not related to you in any way, home is the only place we can be together, but with Harper around we can't even have that. Can't we just come out and tell her?" Justin asked pleadingly.

"Normally, I would say yes, but Harper is my best friend, one of my only friends," Alex explained. "And I really don't want to lose that. Please understand, Justin."

Justin agreed and the plan was set in motion.

:—:—:

"Things were working pretty well, Harper was happy with Zeke and laughed when Justin and I flirted, my grades were climbing and Justin wasn't as stressed by things as he had been before, everything was terrific, but that came to an end when things went wrong on the last step."

:—:—:

"Things are going great," Alex said as she and Justin met up in her room. Justin had her trapped against the wall between his arms and she was doing nothing to try and escape. Her arms hung loosely around his neck. "Harper's happy, Zeke's happy, mom and dad are happy, we're happy, and soon we'll be able to tell Harper."

"How do you think she'll react?" Justin asked his girlfriend, not as optimistic as she was that things would work out that smoothly.

"Well, I know she'll be really mad to begin with. I mean, she thinks she's been in love with you for years," Alex answered confidently, "but I'm sure our friendship will win out in the end."

Justin nodded and leaned down to kiss her when something occurred to him and he pulled back. "She thinks she's been in love with me?" he questioned, confused.

"Yeah. She had a crush on you when we were, like, 6. It wasn't fading so she kicked it up into an obsession," Alex told him. "I was pretty close to getting her therapy, but she's my best friend and I figured it would go away eventually. When she told me she liked Zeke I was so relieved, but I still caught her staring at you. I'm pretty sure Zeke did, too. Awkward…"

Justin laughed and leaned down again, this time kissing her full on the lips. He wrapped his arms around her and she buried her fingers in his hair. Her leg came up and draped around his waist and things seemed as if they would start crossing the line soon when they heard a gasp from the doorway.

The couple broke apart and turned to see Harper Finkle staring at them, tears and betrayal in her eyes.

"Harper…!" Alex called, pushing Justin away and reaching out to her, but the heartbroken girl simply turned away and ran, and that was the last they saw of her.

Alex cried into Justin's shirt all through the night.

:—:—:

"You know what happened after that, the whole world does; Harper tricked Max into revealing wizards are real in front of a hidden camera and then moved to Pittsburgh to live with her parents. I never heard from her again or saw her again, and she blocked my number on her cell phone. I hear she's started therapy.

"Things really went downhill from there; the kids at school kept trying to get us to do tricks or threw things at us for our 'Satanic ways,' the church kept holding rallies in front of the Sub Station and kept out customers, shows kept calling us to ask for our side of the story and we did a few of those until it became obvious they just wanted a freak show. The worst thing was that people had a hard time believing Justin was adopted and yelled that we were being incestuous. Being public about our relationship had been the one bright side we could think of when we found out what Harper had done. I swear, I would've lost it if it wasn't for Stevie and Justin.

"Things were just starting to calm down when we were thrown for another loop. Justin used to date a vampire named Juliet and I dated a werewolf named Mason. They were our first open, honest, committed relationships. Since they were magic creatures, we didn't have to hide being wizards as we'd had to do with past boyfriends and girlfriends.

"Anyway, due to some odd circumstances in a very long story, Juliet ended up biting Mason and Mason scratched Juliet. Now, when a vampire bites a werewolf, the werewolf is stuck in wolf form forever, and when a werewolf scratches a vampire, the vampire loses all their vampire powers and changes to look their true age. Juliet was ancient, and Mason was dangerous in wolf form. That pretty much ended any relationship right there.

"However, as it turns out, when that same werewolf bites that same vampire and that same vampire scratches that same werewolf, the curse is fixed and they change into regular mortals; no magic anywhere. When they figured that out, their first stop was the Sub Station."

:—:—:

Jerry and Theresa were once again able to open the Sub Station and Alex and Justin were using magic to serve dozens of customers at once when the door opened and the last people they expected to see came in.

"Juliet!" "Mason!" Justin and Alex called, their spells failing and all the food dropping to the floor.

"Justin!" "Alex!" the new arrivals called back, rushing toward the two.

"You wouldn't believe it!" Mason said, taking Alex into his arms. "All I had to do was bite Juliet—"

"Yeah, and then I had to scratch Mason," Juliet continued from where she had her arms draped around Justin's waist. "And we were turned back to normal!"

"I mean, we're not a vampire or werewolf anymore, we're only mortal," Mason elaborated, "but I'm not dangerous and Juliet reverted back to a teenager's body. She'll age normally from now on."

"Isn't it great?" Juliet gushed happily. "And imagine our surprise when we come back and find out that everyone knows about magic now! Talk about shocked."

The customers watched on as Alex and Justin glanced awkwardly at each other and extracted themselves from their exes. "I bet you were," Alex said, laughing uncomfortably. She noticed the patrons looking at the group and inconspicuously cast a privacy spell. Now the customers would be able to see them, but couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Oh!" Justin said as if he'd just remembered something. "I know something else I bet you wouldn't believe." He smiled falsely and Alex decided it was her turn again.

"As it turns out," she began, "Justin is… adopted." The former creatures jaws dropped and they began to laugh breathlessly. "Yeah." Alex nodded as she gestured for Justin to start talking again.

"Come to find out, I am really the Russos godson," he said, putting off telling their former flames about their new relationship as long as possible. "My parents asked them to keep it a secret so I would study for the Wizard Competition even though I didn't have to. Pretty clever, huh?"

"Very devious," Mason pointed out, his eyebrow raised playfully and his accent more pronounced in mockery of the stereotypical super villain.

"Yeah," Juliet agreed. "That is incredible."

"I know! But— but that's not the last of it," Alex said, sneaking toward Justin as Justin moved closer to her. "You see, since Justin and I aren't competing for our powers anymore, we've found out that we… get along… really well."

"Aw," Juliet cooed. "That's great."

"Most of your arguing was pretty pointless," Mason half-laughed, smiling innocently at the two wizards.

"Well, we're glad you think so," Justin said, starting to get nervous. "Because… Alex, it's your turn." He turned around and pushed the younger wizard in front of him.

"Be– because we've started to spend a lot of time together and— it's Justin's turn." Alex pushed him back in front and he sighed, deciding they couldn't keep trading places forever.

"We started to spend a lot of time together," Justin reiterated. "And we came to the conclusion that we like each other." Juliet and Mason smile obliviously, so Alex stepped forward to stand beside Justin and took his hand.

"We really like each other," she stressed, looking up at her boyfriend. The two ex-creatures looked as if they were attempting to think of a way Alex could be trying to trick them, so Justin leaned over and Alex stretched her neck up and the two kissed right in the middle of the Waverly Sub Station.

:—:—:

"Things were extremely awkward for a while. Juliet immediately told us that she could learn to wrap her mind around it but wouldn't stick around to watch, so she went to find her parents in Phoenix. We got one letter from her saying they had turned her again, they had opened another sandwich shop, and wished us luck and the best.

"Mason, on the other hand, decided he was going to stay in New York, rejoin Tribecca Prep, and see first hand what Justin and mine's relationship was like. He didn't try to break us up, he just wanted to know if we were really right for each other. When Mason saw we balanced the other out perfectly and that our relationship was strong, he finally offered congratulations and told us that he thought we were great together. He's just recently started dating Stevie and they're both very happy."

"Sounds like things have been hard this past year."

"They were difficult, but not all bad."

"Really? Tell us about some of the better times."

"Well, there was the time Justin took us to Paris to look at the museums and climb the Eiffel Tower, another time we just stayed home and watched monster movies all night, once, we spent the whole day at a carnival and kept switching our appearances to confuse people, but I'll never forget our anniversary."

"Oh? And what happened on your anniversary?"

"Nothing like that! There's just this thing in the Wizard Realm called a Soul Piece. A wizard makes something, usually a type of jewelry, using nothing but raw materials and infuses it with their magic. The wizard's magic lets the wizard know when to make the Soul Piece by directing the wizard to the materials it wants to be infused with. Additional spells can be used to let the wearer know when their loved one is hurt or endangered or to let the two communicate telepathically.

"Justin and I both had our magic decide at the same time, unknown to the other, and we both opted to give the Soul Piece as anniversary presents. We made each other necklaces; I made him a gold amulet with his and his parents birth stones in it, and he made me a white-gold pendant with a crystal-eyed scissor-tail flying across a crescent moon. It was absolutely perfect."

:—:—:**What Alex didn't say**:—:—:

"Justin," Alex choked out, her voice teary as she looked down at the necklace her boyfriend had just given her. "It's gorgeous." Justin helped her put the necklace on and Alex handed him a black jeweler's box.

"Seems like we had the same idea," Justin said laughingly as he opened his present. His smile faded and he let out a disbelieving sound as he looked at what Alex had given him. "This is…" He shook his head as words failed him and he turned to hug his girlfriend. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear as he put on his own necklace.

Justin pulled Alex back into his arms, her back against his chest, and they sat in a comfortable silence for a while until Alex felt the need to say, "It… it's a Soul Piece."

Justin's arms tensed and Alex felt he was in shock, so she turned around to look at him, hoping she hadn't made a mistake in telling him. In the Wizard Realm, giving someone a Soul Piece was as good as asking them to marry you.

"What?" she asked, worried by his silence.

"Yours is a Soul Piece, too," Justin told her, his voice disbelieving. Alex smiled ecstatically, though her face still showed confusion at what had him so shocked. "Do you know what this means?" Justin asked, finally sensing her bewilderment.

Alex shook her head. "No."

"It is said that, when a couple's magic decides to fuse with a Soul Piece at the same time, the couple is destined to be together for eternity," Justin told Alex, his voice awestruck as he looked deeply into her eyes.

"Really?" Alex asked, voice choked up again as she hoped her hearing wasn't playing tricks on her. Please, let it be true, she thought desperately.

"Really," Justin assured her, his voice barely louder than hers.

"I love you, Justin Palmer."

"I love you, Alex Russo."

And not only did Alex not tell the world this part of her special day, she also lied to the show's host, because that was the night Alex and Justin gave themselves to each other, and they've never looked back.

O

**A/N:** Very mushy ending, I know. Please forgive me for that. NEway, I hope y'all liked it. This is my first Wizards of Waverly Place fanfic, and no, I don't know why I decided to do it on this particular pairing.

There's a sequel I'm thinking of doing, but we'll see. I'd have to start and finish it before I post NEthing, (I've learned my lesson!) but I probably won't even bother. If NEone thinks they might be interested in writing a sequel to this, NE sequel, not just the one I have in mind (details to those who ask), then just contact me in a personal message.

Thanks for reading, everyone! Kisses!


End file.
